What does James 5:6 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The oppression of the rich extends to putting to death those who stand in their way even though these people resist the rich righteously. As in James 4:2, James may have been using "put to death" hyperbolically. Many Christians have experienced persecution from people who are trying to guard their own financial security (e.g, Acts 8:18-24; Acts 19:23-28). However if day laborers do not get their wages daily, they can die. [source][source]

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". . . for day laborers it was very serious not to find work or not to be paid. For this reason James personifies the salary, seeing it as the very blood of the exploited workers crying out pitifully. The case was the same for the peasants. The peasants die because they pour out their strength in their work, but the fruit of their work does not come back to them. They cannot regain their strength because the rich withhold their salaries. Therefore James accuses the rich of condemning and killing the just ( James 5:6)." ^[1] [source]

These are strong words of warning. James evidently believed that his readers were erring in this area of their lives and needed a severe shock. The Jews" gift for making money and their interest in this pursuit needed control. We need this warning too since modern culture values money very highly. [source][source]

[source]

As with James 1:10, there is a question about whether James was referring to rich Christians or rich unbelievers in this pericope. Here as there I tend to think that James was probably referring to rich Christians. He seems to be addressing his readers rather than "speaking rhetorically, formally addressing non-Christians in James 1:10 as well as ... in James 5:1-6, but saying this really for the benefit of his Christian readers, who were suffering at the hands of rich persecutors." ^[2] [source]

Context Summary

There are many among the rich who are using money as a sacred trust. Not against these does the Apostle utter his terrible anathemas, but against those who make money by oppression and hoard it for their selfish ends. Riches, which have not been gotten righteously, ever bring a curse with them; and the rust of unused or misused wealth eats not only into the metal but into the miser's flesh. In the light of this passage, it is as great a wrong to hoard up for selfish ends money entrusted as a stewardship, as it is to obtain it unrighteously.

There is a sense in which the Lord is ever at hand and present. But He shall come again at the end of this age. Then all wrongs shall be righted and the oppressed avenged. Everything comes to him who can wait for it; do not judge the Lord by His unfinished work. Be patient till He unveils the perfected pattern in glory. Await the end of the Lord! [source]

Chapter Summary: James 5

¹  Rich oppressors are to fear God's vengeance
⁷  We ought to be patient in afflictions, after the example of the prophets, and Job;
¹²  to forbear swearing;
¹³  to pray in adversity, to sing in prosperity;
¹⁴  to acknowledge mutually our several faults, to pray one for another;
¹⁹  and to correct a straying brother